Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 296, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1918 — FOR SOLDIERS OF BELGIUM [ARTICLE]

FOR SOLDIERS OF BELGIUM

Americans to Bring Christmas Cheer to Every Man in Valiant Army. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph C. Norton, who last year distributed 25,000 Christmas boxes to the Belgian soldiers, with the co-operation of the Belgian 'government, have perfected plans for extending the Christmas cheer this year to every soldier in the Belgian army of 120,000. The gift will consist of chocolate, toilet soap and candies, furnished •at a total cost of $40,000. A Christmas greeting card will be inclosed, bearing the following inscription, printed in

Flemish on one side and French on the other: “Belgian soldier, our beloved friend .and brother, we, your American friends, greet yon this Christmas day, 1918. .How bravely youhave endured and how courageously you have fought during four years of indescribable hardship! But be of good cheer. Tour day of deliverance is drawing near. Listen to the'angels* song, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, will toward mep.’ Jesus Christ was born for you, dear friend, and if today you will open to him the door of your heart, he will enter in and impart to you eternal life.” - . t Mr. and Mrs. Norton, graduate students of the Moody Bible Institute of Chlcngo, have labored so successfully In the interest of .the Belgian soldiers since the summer of 1915 that the queen of the Belgians has givten repeated recognition to their work, and the Belgian army authorities alloWed them access to the frontline trenches. Over 12,000 of the Belgian soldiers have Joined their “League of the Holy Scriptures,” and their names are' among the most popular In the ranks. Of the gifts distributed last year, 6,000 boxes went to Belgian soldiers in German prison camps. A reply card was inclosed, and within a few months the entire number of 6,000. had been recelyed, asking that copies of the Gospels be forwarded.